Jurassic World: The Gift
by fxckndinos
Summary: Astrid Young had a gift. That gift could save humanity, or kill them all...
1. Chapter 1: Astrid and The Raptors

Astrid Young had a gift. She knew it, and her family knew. Reptiles would always act strange around her. She went to the zoo once. The python just sat there and stared at her, the crocodiles would sit near the glass and stare at her, they would all just stare at her. That one fateful day a snake got in the house, she was able to pick it up and put it back outside without it even attacking her. Astrid went to a sleepover at her friend's house, and her friend's turtles sat perfectly in her lap and fall asleep. She just had a way with reptiles and amphibians.

Now, Astrid's cousin worked at an amusement park. Not just any old amusement park, but one with actual, living, breathing, walking _dinosaurs_. Her cousin decided that with Astrid's talent with reptiles, she should come and help with training the dinosaurs. After Astrid's cousin talked with the manager of the park, Astrid was flown out to Isla Nublar.

The staff began to notice that there was something strange about Astrid. At first, she started off feeding the Triceratops. The many workers would watch in awe as Astrid could hand feed the animals and pet them, things the Triceratops would not normally let the regular staff do. Then again, anyone who was calm and gentle around them could do as she could. But after the other herbivores began to exhibit the same behavior around Astrid, people really began noticing that Astrid had an amazing gift. Then, one day, she was assigned to the raptor paddock.

X

Astrid was definately afraid. An encounter with extremely deadly carnivorous creatures that had to be bigger than her was an intimidating thought. As she neared the raptor's containment paddock, her nerves continued to rise higher and higher. Astrid's breathing quickened while a staff member drove her down the dirt path. The woman tried to start a conversation with Astrid. "You're pretty lucky, kid. Gettin' to work with them raptors, everybody wants t' do that." The woman said. Astrid, however, wasn't listening. She was too nervous. When the vehicle stopped, Astrid heaved a nervous, shaking sigh as she exited and headed towards the paddock.

As Astrid began to get closer to the concrete containment unit, that feeling of dread and terror she had been feeling on the way there had risen to an incredible height beyond her level of comprehension. Men were chatting and drinking water on the outside, where it was safe. Astrid took slow steps towards the paddock until-

 **SCREECH!** Astrid jumped at the sudden noises of the raptors within the unit. A million thoughts whirred through her head, and she began to exaggerate her fear in her mind. As anxiety began to kick in, she had terrifying images flashing through her mind like some kind of psychological flip-book.

Five foot raptors with glowing yellow eyes and claws as big as her own fingers. Their mouths filled with many sharp and jagged teeth, coated in a dark crimson substance she could only assume was blood. They open their mouths, and she can smell it; the scent of rotten flesh and death. It smelt awful, and it made her want to purge her stomach of whatever she had recently consumed. They close in on her, their glowing eyes showing malicious intent, she looks like a nice snack. They hiss, they snarl, like a scaly pack of hungry dire wolves. Yes, they are hungry. Starving, in fact.

Astrid inhaled deeply and slowly unfroze her fear-stricken body to finally walk around the paddock and reach the stairs of the paddock. There was a man waiting for her there. He was a black man, wearing some sort of pinkish shirt and a tank top. Someone had told her to look for a "Barry", and he fit the description perfectly. The man saw her, and greeted her. "You must be the new trainer." Barry said, walking her up the stairs to the catwalk that stood above the paddock. The raptors ran under the catwalk and screeched again, scaring Astrid once more. She tightened her grip on the catwalk's railing and froze again. She didn't get a good look at them, but she saw them run under her. "Do not worry, they cannot get you up here." Barry spoke, reassuring the young Astrid. "Owen!" Barry called.

A man with brownish hair and blue eyes looked up at them. He had some facial hair, and he wore a brown vest over a blue shirt. He began making his way toward them, and once he reached them, he sighed heavily. "This is the new trainer." Barry introduced. Owen held out his hand. "Owen Grady." He spoke, shaking Astrid's hand. "Astrid Young." Astrid's voice shook a bit. Owen had to at least be five foot eleven, or maybe even six foot. She looked down at his shoes and-

Astrid froze. There were the raptors. Staring right at her. She stared back as she finally got a look at the beasts to her right and left.

The first raptor she laid eyes on was a pale brownish yellow, and its eyes were yellow like she'd imagined. The one beside it was a dark green, with the same brownish yellow eyes as the other raptors. The one to her right was a lighter green than the one she'd just seen. The last raptor was grey, with two blue stripes running from its eyes, down its back, and to the tip of its tail.

"I can see that you're extremely terrified of them." Owen brought Astrid back to reality. Astrid nodded, trying to distract herself from the terrifying reptiles below the catwalk. Barry had left, leaving Astrid alone with Owen. Owen began introuducing the raptors to Astrid one by one. There was the youngest, Charlie, she was the light green raptor. There was the second youngest, Echo, the brownish yellow raptor. There was the dark green raptor, who went by Delta. The one with the blue stripes was suitingly named Blue, and she was the "beta" of the pack. "Which one is the alpha?" Astrid asked, her voice still shaking a little. "He's right in front of you." Owen said proudly. Astrid gasped. "You have the reptile gift, too?" She questioned, whispering. "No, I don't even know what that is." Owen motioned for her to follow him, and Astrid did. "I imprinted on them when they were juvenilles." He added. The raptors followed Owen and Astrid until they reached a bucket full of dead mice and rats. The raptors' attention was still on Astrid, which puzzled Owen.

The raptors didn't show any sign of aggression towards her. In fact, they looked at her like they would look at Owen, like they respected her. It was strange, as they had never done this with him. They all sat there, staring right at her, like they were waiting for her to do something.

"I...have a thing. It makes reptiles calm around me for some reason." Astrid explained. "I've been able to pet the herbivores and feed them by hand, but then, anyone can really do that if they're calm and gentle." She stopped. "But there was this one time a Pachyasaur charged at a staff member, and I was able to calm it down long enough for the staff to get out. They thought that my thing with reptiles could help with recovering dinosaurs that got out of containment." She added. "But they assigned me to the raptors because they thought I would be able to calm the raptors while you trained them. But to be honest..." Astrid looked at the pack of raptors that were in front of her. "These things really scare me." She mumbled.

"You'll get used to them, kid. Soon enough, they won't scare you unless you get in there with them." Owen reassurred Astrid as he began to teach her the protocols of being around raptors.


	2. Chapter 2: Victor

**((A/N: Woah...I did not expect such a huge response to this. So many favorites and follows, I can't even believe how awesome this is! Thanks guys! Oh, and I'll be starting up another Jurassic World fanfiction called** **The Indominus Alpha** **, where a 14-year-old accidentally imprints on the Indominus Rex by spending too much time with it as a juvenille. It'll be as awesome as this one is! Until then, enjoy Chapter 2!))**

 _ **One Year Later...**_

Victor Hoskins was observing the raptors in their containment. They were distressed by his presence, anyone could see that. And it was so prominent that it made Astrid herself nervous. She saw that the raptors were distressed, and tried to calm them. She was with Blue, stroking the top of her head. Blue was calm at the moment, but then Victor came along and Blue began to thrash. "You able to make the raptors listen, too?" He asked. "No, my job is to calm them while they're being trained and checked up on. I have a way with reptiles." Astrid acknowledged. "Well, to me, it seems they listen to you better than they do Owen. After what happened in that pen back there you pretty much commanded them to retreat." Victor commented. "I'm thinking if something happened to Owen, someone would have to step up." He said.

"If you're implying that I'll be taking Owen's position as their alpha, you would be wrong. I don't plan to become the alpha, and even though they are calm in my presence I am still very cautious of these animals." Astrid explained. She kept stroking Blue's head and keeping her calm. "I only touch them when they are in these devices, and it's to keep them calm while they recieve their routine examinations." She added.

"Then how do you keep them calm while they're being trained?" Victor inquired. "I stand on the catwalk with Owen. I never go in the paddock, I don't command them, and I don't train them. The only thing I do besides this is feed them, and I don't feed them by hand like I do with the herbivores." Astrid replied. She rested her hand on the side of Blue's neck, seeing her efforts to calm her were in vain. "Now, if you'll be so kind as to maybe back away so that I can perform my duties, sir. You're distressing her, Mr. Hoskins." Astrid insisted.

Victor scoffed, and walked off, leaving Astrid and Blue for Barry and Delta. Astrid huffed in irritance, but was relieved that she didn't have to deal with him while doing her job. Astrid laid a hand on the top of Blue's head. Blue stopped growling and calmed after Hoskins left.

X

After a while, Owen came over to Astrid while she was sitting down on the stairs. "How did it go?" He asked. "Well they found a couple of scars on her but other than that Blue-" "I meant did Vic give you any problems." Owen interrupted. "I don't know, he kind of distressed the raptors and made it harder for the medical staff to examine them, but he really didn't do anything." She responded. Astrid uncapped a bottle of water and took a long sip of it. Owen sighed. "He tried to get me on his side with the whole dinosaur soldiar thing, but I told him that I was against it because it was a stupid idea." She spoke. "He went to Barry and started talking about 'young impressionable youth' and 'corruption'." Astrid complained. Owen mumbled something Astrid could not hear, then he spoke up. "Just ignore him, Astrid. If he tries anything, tell me." Owen spoke with a stern tone. "Ok." Astrid mumbled.

Owen had to assume the parental figure while Astrid was working in the park. Astrid had no one looking after her, and her cousin was never around. So Owen stepped up and took up the role of a parental guardian. He was sort of like a part-time father in a sense. He tried to make sure nothing happened to her, and took care of her until her cousin could take her back to where they lived. Owen didn't hug her or anything like that, but he did try to protect her from the raptors when he thought that they would attack her. Though with her special gift, that wouldn't be a problem. What he did have to worry about, however, was Vic giving her a hard time and convincing her to "put her gift to good use" as he said.

Oh, Vic hounded Astrid more than he should have. And Owen didn't like it one bit. Victor was persistant with getting Astrid on his side, and Owen knew why. It was the same reason Victor hounded him: controlling the mighty beasts that were these dinosaurs. Except Astrid did have the ability to possibly tame a dinosaur and obtain it's loyalty and trust. And that was apparently enough to be able to sick dinosaurs on someone.

Yes, Astrid's gift was indeed a special and amazing one. Yet, in the wrong hands, this gift could do much more harm than good. And Owen felt inclined to keep that gift out of the wrong hands. Even if it meant disobeying his superiors...


	3. Chapter 3: The Indominus Escapes

**((A/N: Sorry that this one may be a bit short in comparison with my usual chapters, but I'm in a bit of a blue period. I am extremely sorry that I haven't been updating, I've kind of been stripped of creativity lately and I'm in high school now, so everything's a bit harder now. I'm working on the new A Twist In Time chapter, but it's only one paragraph at the moment. I'm trying to get new chapters to you as well as give you some new stories. Hopefully I can get through this... Until then, I hope you enjoy these chapters.))**

While Owen and the Maintenance Workers looked up at the fence, Astrid stepped back and looked a little closer. She knew that thing couldn't have just climbed out of there. She knew something was up.

First of all, the scratches were strangely placed. They were too close together, and they looked more from the claws on its hands rather than from both. It didn't look like the Indominus Rex had climed out, it just looked like it had tried and failed to do so. There weren't any scratches at the top of the paddock; which confused her because there would have to be some scratches there from it getting to the top and leaping off.

Second, if the Indominus had climbed out and leaped, wouldn't it have made an audible sound that any of the workers should have heard? They should have heard the scratching from the other side of the paddock. And if it fell, someone should have seen it. Given the estimated size of the Indominus, how could it have made a stealthy escape? Surely one of the construction workers would have seen it trying to climb out. Or heard it, as she had previously mentioned. It was supposedly bigger than the T-Rex, so someone had to have seen it. The Maintenance Workers had to have seen it get out. Unless...

Unless it _wasn't_ being watched, and by some odd coincidence the construction workers were on their break so no one could have watched it escape, and it got out and escaped through the woods before anyone noticed it was gone!

But then, she thought, what about the on-site inspectors? The scientists, the workers who _weren't_ on their break? Surely they should have seen something. Or at least heard something. And from what she could tell, the dirt in front of the scratches laid undisturbed, with only one set of footprints in one spot. They shouldn't have been in one spot, she thought once more. The dirt should have been everywhere. It should have been in piles on the ground, on the walls of the paddock where she had scratched, and there should have been scratch marks in the dirt as well; which of course she didn't see. The only way it could have left a clean trace on the wall, was if it climbed using only it's forelegs, which would prove impossible to support its massive weight.

A lot of this just didn't add up. And Astrid was prepared with her theories to inform Owen about what had happened. But then, there was a call to the worker. They couldn't tell what it was saying, but then they knew exactly why they were being called. They could hear it behind them, growling within it's throat.

The chase was on, racing to the paddock's gate as it was about to shut them in with the Indominus. Owen and Astrid got out just in time before the Indominus got caught in the shutting gate, which it furiously broke and shoved aside. It roared, and it started prowilng for it's next victim.

Owen and Astrid were under one of the vehicles, while one of the workers took shelter at the front of a car. This did him no good, as the Indominus soon found him and devoured him as quickly as he had been found. Astrid looked on in utter horror as the Indominus began to prowl towards their hiding spot. Owen broke something that sprayed what smelled like gasoline on them, and he put an arm over Astrid's back, keeping her from moving. The Indominus leaned down and sniffed at the bottom of the vehicles. Astrid dared not breathe as she felt a hot puff of air hit her face, and it opened it's mouth. Then she smelled it: that exact same smell that she imagined the raptors smelled like on her first day. Except worse. It smelled horrible, like an empty drained pool full of corpses. The stench of death was so strong, it made her want to vomit. But she couldn't do that. Not when it was so close to her.

The Indominus roared once again, almost leaving Astrid and Owen deaf, and it walked away. Astrid sighed in relief, as her and Owen began to follow Claire's route to the Control Center.

X

Claire and Owen's arguing only made the situation worse. Astrid took a deep breath in and exhaled, feeling overwhelmed by the yelling. Astrid was also overwhelmed by the way she'd felt when she was around that Indominus.

That thing was not like any other dinosaur she'd ever met here in the park. Granted, when she had to be around the T-Rex, or even the raptors that she had been around for months, she was scared. Those carnivores always scared her. But when she was around this Indominus thing, that sense of fear was heightened to unbelievable lengths.

She felt this overwhelming sense of dread when she was in the presence of that Indominus, as if the world was going to end. It made her feel sick, it made her feel horrible, and it terrified her to no end.

Something was wrong with that thing. Something that Astrid couldn't quite put together into words. She wanted to tell Owen, but she couldn't really say exactly what it was. Astrid simply sat there, drowning in her thoughts as Owen and Claire snapped at each other.


End file.
